Tina Brown Celona

A RETROSPECT

Some moments take on significance

because of when they occur

For example the last minutes

and the first ones;

I’ve never been worse at goodbyes.

You’ll have to tell me

if you’ve read this before.

Writing a poem to you

is like having imaginary sex

even when the poem is about something else

I’m glad you’re happy.

Even when I have a lot to do

you’re on my mind.

Where is the lie? in the poem

or in behavior. If they were

just stage-plays I wanted to believe them.

Being away from you

is harder now. I guess

anything can be a poem

but reality requires cooperation.

If I seem obsessed with the apple tree

it’s only because I can’t believe

how many blossoms are on it.

In love you count on every word.

It is impossible not to be ordinary

if you are ordinary

but you can pretend.

Heartbreaking

you ride away, I know better than

to let you know what it means to me,

when I don’t know myself.

Tina Brown Celona is completing a Ph.D. in English at the University of Denver. She has published two collections of poetry with Fence Books, The Real Moon of Poetry and Other Poems (2002) and Snip Snip! (2006). Recently, Tina’s poems have appeared in Action, Yes, Saltgrass, and Harp & Altar.